TONIGHT ON NBC – THE PITTSBURGH PENGUINS CAN WIN THE 2016 STANLEY CUP FINAL – GAME 5 VS. THE SAN JOSE SHARKS AT 8 P.M. ET

Penguins Lead Sharks 3-1; Can Become First of Pittsburgh’s Three Major Professional Sports Teams to Win Title at Home Since 1960 Pirates

Pre-Game Coverage Begins on NBCSN at 6 p.m. ET with NHL Live

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 9, 2016 –Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins can win their first Stanley Cup since 2009 with a Game 5 win against Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks on NBC tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

Four-time Emmy Award-winning play-by-play commentator Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame member and analyst Eddie Olczyk, and Emmy Award-winning ‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst Pierre McGuire will have the call from CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pa. This marks the 10th consecutive year that Emrick, Olczyk and McGuire have combined to call the Stanley Cup Final for NBC Sports.

PENGUINS LEAD SHARKS 3-1; CAN BECOME FIRST OF PITTSBURGH’S THREE MAJOR PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS TO WIN TITLE AT HOME SINCE 1960 PIRATES

The Penguins took control of the Stanley Cup Final with a 3-1 win in Game 4 on Monday night in San Jose. Evgeni Malkin scored his first goal of the series early in the second period, and Phil Kessel added a pair of assists in the win for Pittsburgh. Melker Karlsson scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who have not gotten a goal from Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, Brent Burns, or Joe Thornton thus far in the Final.

Despite the Sharks’ overtime game-winner in Game 3, the Pens have never trailed in this series – they’ve led for 121:44 of game time, and have been tied with San Jose for the remainder of the Final (133:09). Pittsburgh hasn’t trailed since the final seconds of Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay. In Stanley Cup Final history, teams with a 3-1 lead have a 31-1 all-time record in the series – the only team to come back from 3-1 deficit was the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Penguins can become the first Pittsburgh’s three major professional sports teams (Penguins, Steelers and Pirates) to win a championship within the city limits since the 1960 World Series, when the Pirates defeated the New York Yankees in Game 7 on a walk-off home run by Bill Mazeroski. The Penguins have won three Stanley Cups in their history, but none in Pittsburgh – 1991 in Minnesota, 1992 in Chicago, and 2009 in Detroit.

NBC SPORTS’ 10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THE 2016 STANLEY CUP FINAL

Yesterday, NBC Sports presented 10 things you may not know about the 2016 Stanley Cup Final, including many NHL on NBC commentators’ ties to the Sharks and Penguins. Following is a sampling of those facts. Click here for the full list.

Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick covered the Penguins for the Beaver County Times in the early 1970s, Pierre McGuire won two Stanley Cups as an assistant coach with the Penguins in 1991 and 1992, and Eddie Olczyk was Sidney Crosby’s first NHL head coach with the Penguins during the 2005-06 season. In addition, Brian Boucher and Jeremy Roenick played for the Sharks, and Roenick and Anson Carter played alongside Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan during their NHL careers;

If Pittsburgh wins the Final in either Game 5 or 7 at home, it would mark the first title won by the Penguins, Steelers, or Pirates within the Pittsburgh city limits since 1960. NBC televised the most-recent title won at home by the three teams – the 1960 World Series – as the Pirates’ Bill Mazeroski clinched the series with a dramatic Game 7 walk-off home run against the New York Yankees at Forbes Field;

GAMES TELEVISED SO FAR

For the fifth consecutive year, NBC, NBCSN, USA Network, CNBC and NHL Network are combining to televise every Stanley Cup Playoff game nationally.

Network

Games

NBC

15

NBCSN

54

USA Network

6

CNBC

12

NHL Network

2

Total

89

One-goal Games: 49

OT games: 20

2016 STANLEY CUP FINAL ON THE NBC SPORTS APP

The NBC Sports app — NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices, tablets, and connected TVs — will stream the 2016 Stanley Cup Final via “TV Everywhere,” giving consumers additional value to for their subscription service, and making high quality content available to MVPD customers both in and out of the home and on multiple platforms. The NBC Sports app is powered by Playmaker Media and available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. For desktops, NBC Sports Live Extra can be accessed at NBCSports.com/liveextra.